Gun mounting for submarines



June 23, 1925.

L. Y. SPEAR GUN MOUNTING FOR SUBMARINES Filed July 28. 1924 5 1) l E 2 6 a 6 ml Patented June 23, 19215.

LAWRENCE YORK SPEAK, OF GROTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY, OF GROTON, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

GUN MOUNTING FOR SUBBIARINES.

Application filed July 28, 1924. Serial No. 728,644.

To all whom it may concern:

'Be it known that I, 'LA\VRENOE YORK- SPEAR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Groton, in the county of New London, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gun Mountings for Submarines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear,- and invention being to provide amounting such that the gun can be trained and operated with maximum efliciency while the entire submarine, with the exception of the conning tower and parts associated therewith, is submerged. In general this object is accomplished by providing a bridge substantially. flush with the top of the conning tower, and mounting a non-recoil gun on the bridge adjacent to the conning tower. Means areprovided for raising and lowering the gun, and a platform fixed with respect to the conning tower and its spray-shield and located at'a point above the bridge is provided in close proximity to the gun mounting so that the gun can be loaded and operated from this platform. My invention makes it possible to use a larger gun than is commonly employed, and the effectiveness of the submarine is materially increased by virtue of the increased height of the gun above the deck of the vessel.

The ordinary practice in mounting a gun on a submarine is to place the gun on the deck in front of the conning tower. This makes it necessary to expose theupper portion jof the submarine when the gun is in use in order to make it possible to reload the gun from the deck and to raise the-gun above the surface of the water to therequired height. It is thus apparent that the ordinary practice of mounting a standard gun on the deck of a submarine is open to a number of objections, the most important of which are the relatively large area exposed j to vertical and horizontal gun fire due to the fact that the conning tower and a large portion of the deck are exposed whenthe submarine is in the firing position, the considerable amount of time required to pass from submerged to firing position and from firing to submerged positiondueto the fact that a large part of the submarine must be raised above the water or submerged, as the case maybe, and the limited height to which the gun can be raised above the water level. Owing. to the weight and the recoil forces of the standard type of gun usually employed, guns of the desired caliber and, power cannot be mounted very far above the deck without seriously decreasing the stability of the boat and seriously increasing its submerged resistance.

I have found that the disadvantages of the ordinary. gun mounting can be largely avoided by employing a non-recoil gun and mountingit above-the conning tower and in such a manner that the gun can be raised and loweredas desired. By using a nonrecoil gun, of any standard type, and providing means for raising and lowering the gun, it ispos sible to mount the gun so that when it is in its firing position it occupies a position at considerable distance above the deck of the vessel, without subjecting the gun support and associated, parts to excessive stress. when the. gun is fired. I prefer to provide a fixed platform above the level of the top of the conning tower. and to mount the gunso that it can be raised and lowered as desired, the gun in its lowered or water without exposing any part of the submarine except the conning tower. The various objects and advantages of my inventionwill be apparent upon considering the following detailed description which is to be taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

.Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal section of a submarine conning tower and bridge, provided with the improved gun mounting; and I 7 Fig. 2 isa top plan view of the submarine conning tower and gun mounting shown in Fig.1.

In Figs. :1 and2 cates the deck of a submarine, and 2 the conning. tower enclosed within the slicers 3. A batch d is provided for the purpose of of the drawing, 1 indigivingyaccess to the co'nningtower2 from the control room located directly below the conning tower, and a second hatch 5-provides accessto the bridge 6 from thecon ning tower. Thebridge extends well forward from the conning tower so as to provide ample space for the gun mountinghereinafter described, and the bridge is enclosed within the spray shield 7 which extends upward so as to protect the personnel when the bridge is occupied and to serve as a fair.- water for var ous fittings pro ect1ng above the top of the conning tower.

from the control room are enclosed within the eriscope sheers 10, except when the periscopes, are raised to their operative positions. In accordance with the usual PI'ZIC'. tice, a compass 11 is provided on the bridge,

' the arrangement being such that the .COIIl",

pass can be read from theconning tower as well-as from the bridge.

As stated above,I"prefer to construct the bridge so that it extends well forward from the conning tower, the bridge 6 being substantially flush with thetop of the conning tower 2. The bridge is constructed 'inthis manner so as to provide ample space for the .gun mounting. In Fig. 1, I have shown the cylinder 12 of I a gun hoisting apparatus mounted in the bridge 6 and within the .con-

ning to'wer sh'eers 3. i The drawings, which are largely diagrammatic, show the cylinder 12 and a plunger 13 adapted to slide therein.

The plunger 13 can beraised and lowered by regulating the" supply of air, gas or liquid under pressure to the cylinder 12 in any wellknownmanner. The plunger13 carries a gun support 14:, shown in the form of a yoke adaptedto support the trunnions 15 of the gun 16.

The gun 16 can be of any commontype, but I prefer to use a non-recoil. gun. The gun 16, represented diagrammatically in the drawings, is such a non-recoil gun having a reaction or compensating device l7 thereon,

Any suitable type of non-recoil gun'which automatically compensates, to a greater. or lesser extent, for the reaction caused by firing the projectile can be used;

Tnthe accompanying drawings, I have.

shown a platform, 18 located at a point above the'bridge 6's'ubstantially flush with the top of the spray shield 7. This platform.18 has a recess 19 in the center thereof, adapted to receive the yoke ltcomprising 'the gun support, it being understood thatthe. piston 13 to which the yoke 14 isconnected passes thru the platform 18. This arrangementhas been found tobe quite satisfactory but it will be..understood that the gun mounting can belocated in some other relation to the platform without, inany way departing from the spirit of my invention. Furthermore,

whileIprefer' to construct the platform 18 p I The upper ends of the periscopes Sand 9 extending upso, that its outline is somewhat asindicated at Fig. 2, yet it will be understood that-the shape of the platform can be varied in many ways. The important consideration is to provide a platform, preferably stationary,

on which the gunner can stand while reloading the-gun and training the same. A ladder 20 extending from the bridge ,to the top of the plat-form 18 provides ready access to the'platform from the bridge. In order to render the platform 18 as safe as possible a number of stanchions, '21 are provided around the edge of the platform for the purpose of supporting a flexible or rigid railing 22. These stanchions 21 are preferably hingedto the'platform so that when the gun 16 is lowered to its housed position the stanchions can be folded. down as indicated by the dotted lines .in Fig. 1 so that no part thereof projects above the gun.

Ammunition can be-raised .to the bridge from the ammunition room by means of a hoist 23. As shown in the drawing, this hoist consists of. an inclined tube within the conning towerv sheers 3 containing a chain or other suitable conveyor operated by any convenient means. The ammunition is placed in the lower end of the tube and the conveyor carries it to the top whereit displaces the' hinged cover 24; and is dis:

charged onto the bridge adjacent to the factthat a submarine PIOVldBd'Wlth'SIlCh a gun .mounting,can be. passed from sub; merged to firing. position in less thanone thirty fifth'of the time required to raise a submarine equipped with an ordinary deck gun from submerged to firing position. Furthermore, the gun mounted "asabove described can beraised to'the usual elevation above the waterwithoutexposing any portion of the submarine except the, conning tower. The. conning tower can be armored,

if it is'so desired, thus reducingto a minimum the hazards inc dent to raising'the submarine to firing position.

Itis tobe understood, that the various features of my invention can be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention which is not limited. to the particular V scribed but includes such modifications thereof as fall within the scope of the appended claims, For example, while I 'prefer to construct thestationary 'platfornr18 andthe bridge spray-shield 7 so that-the former is substantiallyfiush with the top embodiment illustrated and de- If it is so desired, anumber of relUU of the latter, yet it will be understood that the spray-shield can be constructed so as to extend above the platform 18 in which case the stanchions 21 and the railing 22 can be eliminated.

I claim:

1. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the bridge of a submarine, of a gun supported by the bridge, a platform above said bridge, and means for hoisting the gun above the platform.

2. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the conning tower of a submarine, of a bridge substantially flush with the top thereof, a gun mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, and means for hoisting said gun into firing position above the top of the conning tower.

3. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the conning tower of a submarine, of a bridge substantially flush with the top thereof, a gun mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, a platform rigidly mounted above said bridge, and means for hoisting said gun above said platform into firing position.

4. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the conning tower of a submarine, of a bridge substantially flush with the top of the conning tower, a gun support mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, a gun carried by said support, a platform above the bridge and having an opening therein thru which the gun support extends, and means for moving said gun support with respect to said platform.

5. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the conning tower of a submarine, of a bridge substantially flush with the top of the conning tower, a gun support mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, a gun carried by said support, a platform above the bridge and having an opening therein thru which the gun support extends, and means for raising the gun into firing position and for lowering it onto said platform.

6. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with. the conning tower of a submarine, of conning tower sheers, a bridge substantially flush with the top of the conning tower, a gun mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, a platform rigidly mounted above said bridge, and means within the conning tower sheers for raising and lowering said gun.

7. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the conning tower of a submarine, of conning tower sheers, a b idge substantially flush with the top of the conning tower, a gun mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, a platform rigidly mounted abovesaidbridge, and means within the conningtower sheers and below said platform for hoisting said gun into firing position.

8. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising. the combination with the conning tower ofa submarine, of a bridgesubstantially flush with the top of the conning tower, a gun mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, and means for hoisting ammunition to said bridge adjacent to said gun.

9. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the conning tower of a submarine, of a bridge substantially flush with the top of the conning tower, a gun mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, means for hoisting ammunition to said bridge adjacent to said gun and means for hoisting said gun into firing position above the top of the conning tower.

10. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the conning tower of a submarine, of conning tower sheers, a bridge substantially flush with the top of the conning tower, a gun mounted on said bridge adjacent to the conning tower, and means extending within the conning tower sheers for hoisting ammunition to said bridge adjacent to said gun.

11. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the bridge of a submarine, of a gun supported by a bridge, a platform above said bridge, means for hoisting the gun above the platform, and hinged guide rail stanchions secured to said platform.

12. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the bridge of a submarine, ofa gun supported by the bridge, a platform above said bridge, and a spray-shield extending up substantially flush with said platform.

13. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the bridge of a submarine, of a gun supported by the bridge, a platform above said bridge, means for hoisting said gun above said platform, a spray-shield extending up substantially flush with said platform and hinged guide rail stanchions secured to said platform.

14. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the bridge of a submarine, of a non-recoil gun supported by the bridge, a platform above said bridge and means for hoisting the gun above the platform. 7

15. The gun mounting for submarines, comprising the combination with the conning tower of a submarine, of a bridge substantially flush with the top thereof, a nonrecoil gun mounted on said bridgeadjaoent to the conning tower, a platform rigidly mounted abbve said bridge, and means fbr adjacent to' theeonning' twer, ,a-noIn-re'co'xlhoisting'saidgun above said platform into gun carried by. said support, aplatforni l firing apositi'on. abdvethe bridge havingan opening-therein 16, Th y gun mounting for submarines, thru which the gulrsupporc ext-ends," and comprising the combination with the conmeans fo moving said gun sup'p r't W th ning tower of a submarine, of a bridge subrespect 9 Sald platform z T t ti ll fl h ith th t f th i In testlmony whereof I affix my slgn'ziture. tower; a gun support mounted on-said bridge LAVIRENCE YORK SPEAK. 

